ACTION ALERT - Conscience Protection- HEALTHCARE

Now is the time to contact your representatives to urge them to co-sponsor and work to enact the Conscience Protection Act of 2016 (H.R. 4828/S. 2927).

Please tell your members to uphold the right of conscientious objection to abortion by enacting this much-needed legislation. The bill, now introduced into both chambers, contains the policy of what in past years has been called the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act (ANDA).

The need for federal conscience protection has only grown since 2014, when California started forcing almost all health plans in the state to cover elective abortions, even late-term abortions. This policy has no exemption for moral or religious objections. A mandate for hospitals, even religious ones, to perform abortions may be next. What is more, other states such as Washington and New York may be following California's lead. 

These actions clearly violate a federal law known as the Weldon Amendment, which forbids governments receiving federal health care funds to discriminate against those who decline to take part in abortion or abortion coverage. Unfortunately, this amendment has legal weaknesses that make it largely ineffective against such challenges.

The Conscience Protection Act of 2016 (H.R. 4828/S. 2927),  will protect health care providers from being forced to pay for or participate in abortions, and allow victims of discrimination a "right of action" to defend their rights in court. For example, nurses threatened with loss of their jobs unless they assist in abortions have found they have no right to go to court to see the law enforced. Congress should reaffirm a principle that has long enjoyed broad bipartisan support: Government should not force hospitals, doctors, nurses and other providers to stop offering much-needed health care because they cannot in good conscience participate in destroying a developing life.

Recommended Actions to take immediately:

• Send emails through the USCCB Action Center
• Contact your Representative by phone. Call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at202-224-3121 or call his or her local office. Members' mailing addresses may be found at www.house.gov
• Follow us on Twitter @usccbfreedom and retweet our posts. Repost the link to this alert on your Facebook page or other social media platforms

Background

On June 7, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and Archbishop William E. Lori – as chairmen of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities and Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, respectively – called for immediate action by the U.S. House of Representatives to enact the Conscience Protection Act of 2016.  The bishops wrote that "disturbing new actions to force healthcare providers to participate in the destruction of human life cry out for an immediate federal remedy."  See the full text of their letter at: www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/conscience-protection/cardinal-dolan-and-archbishop-lori-urge-passage-of-the-conscience-protection-act-of-2016.cfm.

For a joint letter from the USCCB and twenty-five other major pro-life, religious, and health care organizations urging support for H.R. 4828, see:humanlifeactioncenter.org/sites/default/files/Joint-Ltr-Conscience-Protection-Act-2016.pdf

Affordable Care Act - health plans that exclude abortion coverage

October 25, 2013

MEMORANDUM

To:       Diocesan Pro-Life Coordinators
            State Catholic Conference Directors

From:  Associate Director, USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities

Re:       Finding a health plan on the state exchanges that excludes abortion coverage


The USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities has received a number of requests from concerned Catholics who are anxious to know how they can find a health plan without elective abortion coverage on the state exchanges authorized by the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  I imagine some of you have received these requests as well.

At the outset, it is important to note that this memorandum is dealing with deliberately induced abortions performed after implantation – that is, the procedures recognized as abortions by state and federal laws, whether performed by surgery or by drugs such as RU-486.  We continue to seek recourse from the HHS “preventive services” rule requiring almost all health plans to cover drugs and devices approved by the FDA as contraceptives, including some that may act as abortifacients very early in pregnancy; but that threat to conscience is a distinct problem legally and is not addressed here.

The potential pool of Americans interested in the abortion coverage question is quite large.  When we polled Americans on issues relating to health care reform in 2009, 56% of respondents opposed (and only 32% supported) measures that would require people to pay for abortion coverage in their premiums.  An even larger majority of 68% said that if the choice was theirs, they would not want abortion covered in their own insurance policy (including 69% of women, and 62% of those who supported health care reform efforts).  Yet the reality in the new exchanges is complex, and it can be very difficult to find out whether a given plan covers elective abortions.

There are three ways we can help Catholics and other pro-life Americans find a health plan that does not violate their conscience on abortion.

First, we can help find out which health plans have chosen to exclude or restrict abortion coverage, and share that information with others.  Generally (with the notable exceptions listed below), each insurer on the exchanges is free to decide under what circumstances, if any, it will cover abortion (42 U.S.C. § 18023(b)(1)(A)).

Second, we can support federal legislation to make it easier for people to find out which plans include or exclude abortion.  Currently the Affordable Care Act forbids plans to reveal their policy on abortion coverage except as part of the “summary of benefits and coverage explanation, at the time of enrollment” when people are already signing up for a plan; it also forbids them to tell enrollees how much of their premium payment will go into a separate account to pay for abortions (42 U.S.C. § 18023(b)(3)). Recently Rep. Chris Smith introduced an “Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act” (HR 3279) to reverse these policies and require transparency on abortion coverage; we should urge all members of Congress to support this bill.

Third, we can help inform people about the abortion exclusions created by state or federal laws.  Some states have acted to exclude most abortions from all health plans on their exchanges; and in other states, the ACA itself requires at least one “multi-state plan” to exclude most abortions. These are explained below.  This information is provided as general background, and is not intended to take the place of more specific advice from your own diocesan counsel.  

A. State Abortion Opt-Outs

In 23 states, most abortions are excluded from all plans on the exchange by state law.  The states’ authority to enact such “abortion opt-outs,” without preemption by the federal ACA, is recognized in the ACA itself (42 U.S.C. § 18023(a) & (c)).  This exclusion governs the exchange regardless of whether the state established its own exchange, or left that task to the federal government.  The 23 states are:


Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas*
Florida
Idaho
Indiana*
Kansas*
Kentucky*
Louisiana*
Mississippi
Missouri*
Nebraska
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma*
Pennsylvania*
South Carolina*
South Dakota
Tennessee*
Utah
Virginia*
Wisconsin*


The 12 states with an asterisk (*) also have at least one multi-state plan that should exclude abortions except for cases of danger to the mother’s life or rape/incest.  That issue is discussed below.

Some of these states exclude abortion from all health plans sold in the state (not only plans on the exchange), usually allowing abortion coverage to be purchased only as an optional rider funded by those who choose the coverage.  Some also exclude abortion from health coverage for state employees.  And the states differ in the exceptions they make for limited circumstances, in which insurers may cover abortions as part of an overall health plan (which is not to say that they must offer such limited coverage). This is how the 23 states fare on exceptions: No exception, 2 states; life of the mother only, 6 states; life/rape/incest, 10 states; life and serious, long-lasting physical health damage (or equivalent words), 2 states; similar life and health exception, plus cases of rape and incest, 2 states; life/rape/incest/serious physical health/fetal defect, 1 state.  To see how your state handles these variables, see this chart from the National Right to Life Committee:
www.nrlc.org/uploads/ahc/InsuranceCoverageAbortionRegs.pdf

B. Federally Approved “Multi-State Plans”
 
ACA requires the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to approve at least two “multi-state” health plans.  These plans are offered by private insurers, but screened and approved by the federal government to be offered across state lines and ultimately (by the fourth year that a given insurer contracts with OPM) in every one of the 50 states.  So far OPM has approved only one such multi-state plan, offered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BC/BS), which will be available in at least 30 states in 2014 (see OPM link provided below) and in all 50 states beginning in 2017. The ACA (42 U.S.C. § 18054(a)(6)) provides:

“In entering into contracts under this subsection [dealing with oversight by OPM], the Director [of OPM] shall ensure that with respect to multi-State qualified health plans offered in an Exchange, there is at least one such plan that does not provide coverage of services described in section 18023(b)(1)(B)(i)…” [that is, abortions ineligible for federal funding under the current Hyde amendment].

So in each of these 30 states, we believe there should be a multi-state plan that excludes abortion coverage except for cases of danger to the mother’s life, rape or incest.  Whether this is actually taking place in each state remains to be proved.

As noted above, 12 of these 30 states have their own law excluding most abortions from all plans on the exchange; the multi-state plan must obey that law if one exists.  But regardless of whether a given state has such a law or not, the multi-state plan must not cover abortions except for cases of life endangerment or rape/incest (with the caveat that even life endangerment and rape/incest abortions must be excluded in a particular state if that state’s law requires the exclusion).  In 18 states and the District of Columbia there is no state law limiting abortion coverage, so the only current legal requirement for a relatively abortion-free plan of which we are aware is that state’s multi-state plan (which should be BC/BS, as that is the only multi-state plan approved so far), though other plans may exclude abortion if the insurer chooses.  Those 18 states are:


Alaska
California
Colorado
Delaware
Georgia
Illinois
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Montana
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
New York
Texas
Washington
West Virginia


More details on the multi-state plans are available here:
www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/multi-state-plan-program/opm-multi-state-plan-program-fact-sheet/

A glance at this web site reveals one source of possible confusion: Across the 30 states, OPM says it has approved a grand total of 154 “plan options” (ranging from two options in a number of states, to 36 in Alaska). These seem to be variations by regional provider network, and/or by premium amount and deductible (e.g., “bronze” vs. “silver” or “gold” plans).  We believe that all these options should be treated as part of just one Blue Cross/Blue Shield multi-state plan, therefore excluding elective abortion under all options.  However, it is not yet clear whether that is the way OPM interprets its obligation to ensure that “at least one” plan in each state excludes elective abortions, so further research on this point is needed.  We will be researching this issue further at the federal level, and would greatly appreciate any information you can obtain about the way abortion is being treated by multi-state plans in your state.

Finally, some state exchanges may also have a Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan that is not part of the multi-state plan program, and therefore may not be covered by the federal abortion exclusion.  Only plans marked as a BC/BS “multi-state plan” or “MSP” will qualify.

C. Other States
 
This leaves 9 states where it appears, from the information available to us, that neither state nor federal law currently guarantees the availability of even one relatively abortion-free plan (though insurers are free to offer such a plan if they choose):


Connecticut
Hawaii
Iowa
Minnesota
New Jersey
Oregon
Rhode Island
Vermont
Wyoming




These states could change their situation either by passing a state “abortion opt-out” law, or by encouraging a carrier like Blue Cross/Blue Shield to extend its multi-state plan to that state.  

We hope this information is helpful, and we would welcome hearing about any further clarification you learn about in your own state.

VP Debate misinformation re: HHS Mandate

DATE: October 12, 2012







FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

USCCB RESPONDS TO INACCURATE STATEMENT OF FACT ON HHS MANDATE MADE DURING VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued the following statement, October 12. Full text follows:

Last night, the following statement was made during the Vice Presidential debate regarding the decision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to force virtually all employers to include sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion, in the health insurance coverage they provide their employees:

"With regard to the assault on the Catholic Church, let me make it absolutely clear. No religious institution-Catholic or otherwise, including Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital-none has to either refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide. That is a fact. That is a fact."

This is not a fact. The HHS mandate contains a narrow, four-part exemption for certain "religious employers." That exemption was made final in February and does not extend to "Catholic social services, Georgetown hospital, Mercy hospital, any hospital," or any other religious charity that offers its services to all, regardless of the faith of those served.

HHS has proposed an additional "accommodation" for religious organizations like these, which HHS itself describes as "non-exempt." That proposal does not even potentially relieve these organizations from the obligation "to pay for contraception" and "to be a vehicle to get contraception." They will have to serve as a vehicle, because they will still be forced to provide their employees with health coverage, and that coverage will still have to include sterilization, contraception, and abortifacients. They will have to pay for these things, because the premiums that the organizations (and their employees) are required to pay will still be applied, along with other funds, to cover the cost of these drugs and surgeries.

USCCB continues to urge HHS, in the strongest possible terms, actually to eliminate the various infringements on religious freedom imposed by the mandate.
For more details, please see USCCB's regulatory comments filed on May 15 regarding the proposed "accommodation": www.usccb.org/about/general-counsel/rulemaking/upload/comments-on-advance-notice-of-proposed-rulemaking-on-preventive-services-12-05-15.pdf---

# # # # #

Fortnight at St. Ben's

St. Benedict’s is hosting Fr. Terrance Klein, S.T.D. from St. Bonaventure University on Tuesday, June 26 at 7PM to speak on the theological understanding of Religious Liberty.

Join us in church for his presentation, Adoration/Benediction, and prayer.

The United States bishops call the laity to action in defense of religious liberty and are urging all to protect the First Freedom of the Bill of Rights. The position of the U.S. bishops is outlined in "Our First, Most Cherished Freedom." 

The document lists the following major concerns:
The Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate forcing religious organizations to pay for morally objectionable services.

License revocation of Catholic foster care and adoption service programs that refuse to place children in situations against their moral teaching.

Requiring that the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services provide contraceptive and abortion services to victims of human trafficking.

Diocese of Buffalo events and information previous post - http://stbenedictsamherstnyblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/fortnight-for-freedom.html

A Prayer for Religious Liberty

Almighty God, Father of all nations, for freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty, the foundation of human rights, justice, and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect and promote our liberties; by your grace may we have the courage to defend them, for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Call to Action - Fortnight for Freedom

BISHOPS ISSUE CALLTO ACTION

TO DEFEND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Urge strong lay involvement

Outline threats to First Freedom at all levels of government and abroad

Call upon dioceses to pursue religious liberty fortnight, June 21-July 4

WASHINGTON—The U.S. bishops have issued a call to action todefend religious liberty and urged laity to work to protect the First Freedomof the Bill of Rights. They outlined their position in “Our First, Most Cherished Freedom.” The document was developed by the Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), approved for publication by the USCCB Administrative Committee March 13, and published in English and Spanish April 12.

            The document can be found at http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/our-first-most-cherished-liberty.cfm

“We have been staunch defenders of religious liberty in the past.We have a solemn duty to discharge that duty today,” the bishops said in the document, “… for religious liberty is under attack, both at home and abroad.”

The document lists concerns that prompt the bishops to act now.  Among concerns are:

•           The Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate forcing all employers, including religious organizations, to provide and pay for coverage of employees’contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs even when they have moral objections to them. Another concern is HHS’s defining which religious institutions are “religious enough” to merit protection of their religious liberty.

•          Driving Catholic foster care and adoption services out of business. Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia and Illinois have driven local Catholic Charities adoption or foster care services out of business by revoking their licenses, by ending their government contracts, or both—because those Charities refused to place children with same-sex couples or unmarried opposite-sex couples who cohabit.

•          Discrimination against Catholic humanitarian services. Despite years of excellent performance by the USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services in administering contract services for victims of human trafficking, the federal government changed its contract specifications to require USCCB to provide or referfor contraceptive and abortion services in violation of Catholic teaching. Religious institutions should not be disqualified from a government contract based on religious belief, and they do not lose their religious identity or liberty upon entering such contracts. Recently a federal court judge in Massachusetts turned religious liberty on its head when he declared that such a disqualification is required by the First Amendment—that the government violates religious liberty by allowing Catholic organizations to participate in contracts in a manner consistent with their beliefs on contraception and abortion.

            The statement lists other examples such as laws punishing charity to undocumented immigrants; a proposal to restructure Catholic parish corporations to limit the bishop’s role; and a state university’s excluding a religious student group because it limits leadership positions to those who share the group’s religion.

            Other topics include the history and deep resonance of Catholic and American visions of religious freedom, the recent tactic of reducing freedom of religion to freedom of worship, the distinction between conscientious objection to a just law, and civil disobedience of an unjust law, the primacy of religious freedom among civil liberties, the need for active vigilance in protecting that freedom, and concern for religious liberty among interfaith and ecumenical groups and across partisan lines.

            The bishops decry limiting religious freedom to the sanctuary.

           “Religious liberty is not only about our ability to go to Mass on Sunday or pray the Rosary at home. It is about whether we can make our contribution to the common good of all Americans,” they said. “Can we do the goodworks our faith calls us to do, without having to compromise that very same faith?”

            “This is not a Catholic issue. This is not a Jewish issue. This is not an Orthodox,Mormon, or Muslim issue. It is an American issue,” they said.

The bishops highlighted religious freedom abroad.

            “Our obligation at home is to defend religious liberty robustly, but we cannot overlook the much graver plight that religious believers, most of them Christian, face around the world,” they said. “The age of martyrdom has not passed. Assassinations, bombings of churches, torching of orphanages—these are only the most violent attacks Christians havesuffered because of their faith in Jesus Christ. More systematic denials of basic human rights are found in the laws of several countries, and also in acts of persecution by adherents of other faiths.”

            The document ends with a call to action.

“What we ask isnothing more than that our God-given right to religious liberty be respected.We ask nothing less than that the Constitution and laws of the United States, whichrecognize that right, be respected.”  They specifically addressedseveral groups: the laity, those in public office, heads of Catholic charitableagencies, priests, experts in communication, and urged each to employ the gifts and talents of its members for religious liberty.

            The bishops called for “A Fortnight for Freedom,” the two-week period from June 21 to July 4—beginning with the feasts of St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher and ending with Independence Day—to focus “all the energies the Catholic community can muster” for religious liberty.  They also asked that, later in the year, the feast of Christ the King be “a day specifically employed by bishops and priests to preach about religious liberty, both here and abroad.”

Bishops' Latest on HHS 14 March 2012

BISHOPS PROMISE TO CONTINUE ‘VIGOROUS EFFORTS’ AGAINST HHS VIOLATIONS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN HEALTH CARE REFORM MANDATE

Declare government has no place defining religion, religious ministry

Seek protection for conscience rights of institutions, individuals

Stress action with the public, White House, Congress, courts

WASHINGTON—The U.S. bishops are strongly united in their ongoing and determined  efforts to protect religious freedom, the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) said in a March 14 statement.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan

           The Administrative Committee, chaired by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the USCCB, is the highest authority of the bishops’ conference outside the semi-annual sessions of the full body of bishops. The Committee’s membership consists of the elected chairmen of all the USCCB permanent committees and an elected bishop representative from each of the geographic regions of the USCCB.

           The full statement can be found at www. www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/religious-liberty/upload/Admin-Religious-Freedom.pdf.

           The Administrative Committee said it was “strongly unified and intensely focused in its opposition to the various threats to religious freedom in our day.” The bishops will continue their vigorous work of education on religious freedom, dialogue with the executive branch, legislative initiatives and efforts in the courts to defend religious freedom. They promised a longer statement on the principles at the heart of religious freedom, which will come later from the bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty.

           The bishops noted that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate that forces all private health plans to provide coverage of sterilization and contraceptives – including abortion-inducing drugs – called for an immediate response. Of particular concern, they said, are a religious exemption from the mandate that the bishops deem “arbitrarily narrow” and an “unspecified and dubious future‘accommodation’’’ offered to other religious organizations that are denied the exemption.

           The bishops thanked supporters from the Catholic community and beyond “who have stood firmly with us in our vigorous opposition to this unjust and illegal mandate.”

           “It is your enthusiastic unity in defense of religious freedom that has made such a dramatic and positive impact in this historic public debate.”

           The bishops said this dispute is not about access to contraceptives but about the government’s forcing the Church to provide them. Their concerns are not just for the Catholic Church but also for “those who recognize that their cherished beliefs may be next on the block.”

           “Indeed, this is not about the Church wanting to force anybody to do anything; it is instead about the federal government forcing the Church –consisting of its faithful and all but a few of its institutions – to act against Church teachings,” they said.

           The Church has worked for universal health care in the United States since 1919, they added, and said the current issue “is not a Republican or Democratic, a conservative or liberal issue; it is an American issue.”

           The bishops called the HHS mandate “an unwarranted government definition of religion,” with government deciding who is a religious employer deserving exemption from the law.

           “The introduction of this unprecedented defining of faith communities and their ministries has precipitated this struggle for religious freedom,”the bishops said.

           “Government has no place defining religion and religious ministry,”they said.  “If this definition is allowed to stand, it will spread throughout federal law, weakening its healthy tradition of generous respect for religious freedom and diversity,” they said.

           The bishops said the government’s foray into church governance “where government has no legal competence or authority” is beyond disturbing. Those deemed by HHS not to be “religious employers,” the bishops said, “will be forced by government to violate their own teachings within their very own institutions. This is not only an injustice in itself, but it also undermines the effective proclamation of those teachings to the faithful and to the world.”

           The bishops also called the HHS mandate “a violation of personal civil rights.”  The new mandate creates a class of people “with no conscience protection at all: individuals who, in their daily lives, strive constantly to live in accordance with their faith and values,” the bishops said. “They too face a government mandate to aid in providing‘services’ contrary to those values – whether in their sponsoring of, and payment for, insurance as employers; their payment of insurance premiums as employees, or as insurers themselves – without even the semblance of exemptions.”

           The bishops called for the Catholic faithful, and all people of good will throughout the nation to join them in prayer and penance “for our leaders and for the complete protection of our First Freedom – religious liberty.”

           “Prayer is the ultimate source of our strength,” the bishops said,“for without God we can do nothing. But with God all things are possible.”

*****
visit http://bit.ly/zx7mC2 for information on the upcoming rally to protest the HHS infringement on our religious liberty.  Thank you for helping the Church in her hour of need.

Report from CSMG - Kathleen Sieracki

Mrs. Sieracki on LCUSA Board (farthest left)

One of our parishioners, Mrs. Kathleen Sieracki, participated in the 2012 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington, D.C. In addition to her service as a national Board Member and Editor of the Ladies of Charity USA (LCUSA), Mrs. Sieracki is active in the Ladies of Charity at our parish and a member of our Salt & Light group, among other ministries.  Here is her report...

Advocacy Connections

Catholic Social Ministry Gathering

The 2012 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering (CSMG), organized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), was held in Washington, D.C., Feb. 12-15.  Ladies of Charity USA is one of 14 Catholic organizations partnering with USCCB in this annual event.  Rita Robinson, a Lady of Charity from the Archdiocese of Washington and I represented LCUSA among 450 registrants from across the country.  Several Daughters of Charity were also present, including Sister Julie Cutter who serves on the LCUSA board of directors.

Faithful Citizenship:  Protecting Human Life and Dignity, Promoting the Common Good was the title of the conference.  The opening presentation by John Carr, executive director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, USCCB, addressed the bishops’ document, Forming Consciences forFaithful Citizenship, which aims to stimulate greater insight into public policy issues in light of Catholic social teaching.

Dr. Carolyn Woo, president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) was the plenary speaker on international issues.  CRS is present in over 100 countries, working with the people they serve to identify what is needed by listening, not commanding.  In humility, they believe solutions must be developed “on the ground.”   The plenary session on domestic issues featured Dr. Arturo Chavez, president of the Mexican American Catholic College in San Antonio.  He spoke about the challenges and aspirations of the Latino community in the United States and some of the difficulties encountered in working to reconcile Catholic principles with cultural attitudes.

 In conjunction with other Christian leaders, USCCB is urging that a Circle of Protection be established around the programs and resources essential to safeguard the lives and dignity of the poor and vulnerable in our nation and around the world.  Everyone in attendance received training on priority issues in preparation for visits to representatives and senatorson Capitol Hill.On Tuesday, February 14^th, CSMG participants lobbied Congress on behalf of extending the period of eligibility for unemployment benefits and for preservation of the Child Tax Credit.  A bi-partisan agreement on these two goals was announced the next day. 

Two other issues presented during the congressional visits are still unresolved.  Legislators were asked to work on the release of humanitarian funding for Palestinians and were also asked to co-sponsor and support bills pending in both the House and the Senate which will protect religious liberty and conscience rights in light of the recent unprecedented and very narrow definition of what constitutes a religious organization.  Participants stressed that our hospitals and charities serve people not because those in need are Catholic, but because we are Catholic.

Attendance at this conference brought a strong reminder that ours is a universal church.  Participants came from many age groups and ethnic backgrounds.  The liturgies were multi-cultural and several languages and native costumes were represented.  Bishops Jaime Soto of Sacramento and Richard E. Pates of Des Moines presided at the opening and closing Masses.

The summary message of the CSMG was a call to Congress and the administration to give moral priority to programs and policies that protect the life and dignity of those who are poor and vulnerable and to protect religious liberty, conscience and the freedom of Catholic ministries to serve “the least of these” (Matt. 25).

HHS news - parish website

We encourage all our readers to visit our homepage - www.saintbenedicts.com - daily for the latest news on the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate. Look for the picture of Bishop Edward Kmiec and the Statue of Liberty.

Join us for the Stand Up For Religious Freedom Rally in Buffalo as we participate with over 50 other cities nationally to oppose the recent HHS Mandate. This HHS mandate, including President Obama's so-called "compromise," violates our first amendment right to free exercise of religion. Let’s tell our federal representatives that we want our religious freedom protected and the HHS mandate stopped!

Rally Date: Friday, March 23^rd 2012

Time: 12 Noon

Location: Federal Building (Sen. Schumer’s Office)

130 South Elmwood Ave. Buffalo, NY 14202

*For more information email: Buffalo@StandUpForReligiousFreedom.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

For Catholics, for all religious people, and for people of good will, this is a serious religious liberty issue. As it currently stands, this mandate is an unprecedented infringement on our God-given rights, enshrined in the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment.

Our website homepage has links to the Diocese of Buffalo's new website on religious freedom. We ask that all our parishioners and friends do their part to protect religious liberty in the United States by remaining informed and taking action as necessary.

Please share our website address - www.saintbenedicts.com - with your friends on facebook, twitter, email, etc.

The Church needs your help!  So does America.

US Bishops Renew Call to Legislative Action

This statement was released late Friday night by the USCCB:
Bishops Renew Call to Legislative Action on Religious Liberty
February 10, 2012

Regulatory changes limited and unclear

Rescission of mandate only complete solution

Continue urging passage of Respect for Rights of Conscience Act

WASHINGTON – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have issued the following statement:

The Catholic bishops have long supported access to life-affirming healthcare for all, and the conscience rights of everyone involved in the complex process of providing that healthcare. That is why we raised two serious objections to the "preventive services" regulation issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in August 2011.

First, we objected to the rule forcing private health plans — nationwide, by the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen—to cover sterilization and contraception, including drugs that may cause abortion. All the other mandated "preventive services" prevent disease, and pregnancy is not a disease. Moreover, forcing plans to cover abortifacients violates existing federal conscience laws. Therefore, we called for the rescission of the mandate altogether.

Second, we explained that the mandate would impose a burden of unprecedented reach and severity on the consciences of those who consider such "services" immoral: insurers forced to write policies including this coverage; employers and schools forced to sponsor and subsidize the coverage; and individual employees and students forced to pay premiums for the coverage. We therefore urged HHS, if it insisted on keeping the mandate, to provide a conscience exemption for all of these stakeholders—not just the extremely small subset of "religious employers" that HHS proposed to exempt initially.

Today, the President has done two things.
First, he has decided to retain HHS's nationwide mandate of insurance coverage of sterilization and contraception, including some abortifacients. This is both unsupported in the law and remains a grave moral concern. We cannot fail to reiterate this, even as so many would focus exclusively on the question of religious liberty.

Second, the President has announced some changes in how that mandate will be administered, which is still unclear in its details. As far as we can tell at this point, the change appears to have the following basic contours:

It would still mandate that all insurers must include coverage for the objectionable services in all the policies they would write. At this point, it would appear that self-insuring religious employers, and religious insurance companies, are not exempt from this mandate.

It would allow non-profit, religious employers to declare that they do not offer such coverage. But the employee and insurer may separately agree to add that coverage. The employee would not have to pay any additional amount to obtain this coverage, and the coverage would be provided as a part of the employer's policy, not as a separate rider.

Finally, we are told that the one-year extension on the effective date (from August 1, 2012 to August 1, 2013) is available to any non-profit religious employer who desires it, without any government application or approval process.

These changes require careful moral analysis, and moreover, appear subject to some measure of change. But we note at the outset that the lack of clear protection for key stakeholders—for self-insured religious employers; for religious and secular for-profit employers; for secular non-profit employers; for religious insurers; and for individuals—is unacceptable and must be corrected. And in the case where the employee and insurer agree to add the objectionable coverage, that coverage is still provided as a part of the objecting employer's plan, financed in the same way as the rest of the coverage offered by the objecting employer.

This, too, raises serious moral concerns.

We just received information about this proposal for the first time this morning; we were not consulted in advance. Some information we have is in writing and some is oral. We will, of course, continue to press for the greatest conscience protection we can secure from the Executive Branch. But stepping away from the particulars, we note that today's proposal continues to involve needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions, and to threaten government coercion of religious people and groups to violate their most deeply held convictions. In a nation dedicated to religious liberty as its first and founding principle, we should not be limited to negotiating within these parameters. The only complete solution to this religious liberty problem is for HHS to rescind the mandate of these objectionable services.

We will therefore continue—with no less vigor, no less sense of urgency—our efforts to correct this problem through the other two branches of government. For example, we renew our call on Congress to pass, and the Administration to sign, the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act. And we renew our call to the Catholic faithful, and to all our fellow Americans, to join together in this effort to protect religious liberty and freedom of conscience for all.

Email update on new responses at Mass

Praised be Jesus Christ!

We are in the final stages of preparation for the new responses at Mass.  The new responses go into effect on the First Sunday of Advent (the weekend after Thanksgiving).

Please invite as MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE to the presentation in our church Wednesday 26 October from 7 to 8pm  The church is handicapped accessible.  Please invite your teachers, volunteers, and all the members of groups you belong to.  We will cover the reasons for the changes, the new responses, and offer some catechesis on the liturgy along the Way. This is the ONLY major presentation on the changes in our parish.

UPDATE:
1. We begin inviting the congregation to the 26 Oct. presentation at Masses this weekend and will continue to address the changes going forward.
2. The pew cards with the new responses have arrived.
3. The new Breaking Bread worship aids have arrived and begin in Advent (new responses included)  Glenn has the new musical pieces lined up and ready to go.
4. The Sacramentaries are in.
5. Announcements continue on the bulletin, facebook, twitter and website.  Here is the US Bishops website on the changes - http://old.usccb.org/romanmissal/
6. The School, Faith Formation Program and RCIA are addressing the changes in classes.
7. An invitational video is on the website.
8. We will soon send an invitational email out to those in our distribution list.
9. Our priests and deacon are studying their parts (pray for us!!!!)

Thanks for all you are doing to make this transition as smooth as possible!   See you on the 26th.
deacon bill+
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Deacon William Hynes
http://www.saintbenedicts.com/
twitter - @stbensamherst
facebook - http://on.fb.me/gpfyMZ

9/11 Interfaith Prayer Service - Eggertsville

You may also be interested in the 9/11  prayers and remembrances on the US Catholic Bishops' website - http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/september-11/